I'm Curtis, a 19 year old from just outside Leeds, currently living in Sheffield.

"Well why are you living in Sheffield?" I hear you cry... I'm currently studying Radiotherapy & Oncology at Sheffield Hallam University. 

"What made you pick that course?" is another question I often find myself getting asked. The answer to this takes me back five years, when I was 14. It was just coming up to my summer holidays and I'd gone to the GPs with a persistent, exhausting cold. The cold actually turns out to be pretty insignificant when roughly a week later I was diagnosed with cancer of the kidney. It was a Wilms' tumour, which at the age of fourteen is very rare. Two weeks after this, on the 14th July I underwent surgery to remove my kidney and tumour. 

However that was the easy bit: the next stage involved cleaning up my lung metastasis and as such, the following six or seven months were chemotherapy filled and not as easy as I had expected. I had highs and I had lows. There were even some moments where I had very lows, but with an incredible supportive family and an equally supportive friend group, I made it out of the other side and the April after, I was given the all-clear. 

At the time of writing it is nearly five years since my diagnosis and I am still indebted to numerous people, charities and services.

That's the reason I want to be a radiotherapist: so that I can give back to the NHS for saving my life. I'm now doing my bit to give back to Candlelighters. 

I thank you for taking the time to read this and if you have any further questions you can tweet me @curtiee or message me on Facebook :-)

Curtis x